Exhibition view, photo: Gladys Camilo
16–30 September, 2022
Fridays 14–19, Sat-Sun 12–17
Opening: Thursday 15 September, starting at 18
The works in the exhibition are a collection of experiences, feelings and memories of belonging and the invisible aggressions in everyday life.
The body of work combines quilts, paintings, sketches, and photographs. Memory, functioning as a focal point in artistic methodology.
Every time a memory is recalled it is altered by the will to remember something forgotten. Consequently, the memory drifts away from its origin point; existing only as connections from the scattered pieces left behind. It transforms and infuses itself and becomes something familiar yet distant. Each previous iteration goes through a mutation, emerging as a stranger.
The paintings in this exhibition use personal archives of familiar faces my mother used to work with in Mexico during the 90s. The photos in my practice function as vessels to flesh out personal experiences and memories in order to invent new ones; gradually shifting away from the images and relying more and more on intuition and memory.
The quilted works are in turn, an exploration of tensions being released in relation to these experiences, feelings, memories and letting the body express without thinking. All works are linked together by body and memory.
Gladys Camilo is a visual artist, cultural worker, and DJ. She is interested in the intersections of identity and trauma, collective feeling and the fostering of safer spaces to explore vulnerability and co-care. Her visual works—often taking the form of paintings, textiles, and writing—tend to be very intuitive, impulsive, and driven by emotion.
Collecting and archiving practices are one way she gets situated in different contexts, and these materials regularly inform her work. She’s been reflecting on found imagery from flea markets, online archives and personal family documentation in order to flesh out forgotten memories, feelings and faces—and reinvent new realities.
She is also currently interested in interrogating methodologies for working sustainably when creating artworks. This often means repurposing ‘waste’ materials related to natural dyes; mending and reusing fabrics.
Exhibition view, photo: Gladys Camilo
Exhibition view
Exhibition view, photo: Gladys Camilo
Exhibition view, photo: Gladys Camilo
Exhibition view, photo: Gladys Camilo
'Señora Torres', photo: Gladys Camilo
'Señora Torres II', photo: Gladys Camilo
'Señora Torres III', photo: Gladys Camilo
'Señora Cruz', photo: Gladys Camilo
'Señora Cruz II', photo: Gladys Camilo
'Señora Cruz III', photo: Gladys Camilo
'Señora Lopez', photo: Gladys Camilo
'Señora Lopez II', photo: Gladys Camilo
'Señora Lopez III', photo: Gladys Camilo